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National Novel Writing Month

I’ve been writing for years, and most of the time I come up with soundtracks for what I’m working on. These soundtracks inspire me to write certain scenes, exemplify relationships or characters within whatever I’m writing. Sometimes, though, you just need some good background music for whatever you happen to be writing (or studying!) at the time. Most of the time I find these soundtracks on 8tracks, a website that you may create a free profile on and begin creating your own playlists, adding annotations, cover art, etc. These are some of the ones I’ve found that I really think stand out.

Have your own playlists for your projects you want to share? Have others that I haven’t listed that you think are awesome? Post them in the comments below for everyone to enjoy! Is it one song in particular that gets you ready to write? Put the youtube or soundcloud link below and I’ll take a listen! Most of all, though, enjoy writing.

So posts may either be a flurry of activity or none at all during this busy month of April. Not only do I have my Anniversary coming up, but I have made a few commitments, am in the middle of paperwork for entering College for the summer semester and normal day-to-day life. So what are these commitments?

The first one I want to talk about is the Red My Lips campaign. April is, as some of you may know, Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Red My Lips is a month long campaign in which you sport red lipstick in support of survivors of sexual assault and as a starting point in which to talk about rape myths, victim-blaming and sexual assault in general. I’ve committed to this cause not only because it’s a great cause, but because of how many friends I had growing up who were victims. How many people I know now who either will admit it to others or aren’t ready to have the public bear witness to the trials they have faced. Sexual assault is something many, many women (and yes, men too!) have to deal with. It should be a topic freely discussed due to it’s frequency. I am here to talk about it, comfortably, with anyone who would like to talk more about it. If you would like more information about the campaign, the Facebook group is here and the website is here.

The second commitment is actually Camp NaNoWriMo. I’ve spoken about NaNoWriMo (which takes place in November) on this blog before, since I participated this past year. Camp NaNo is a little different, although it has the same basic principles. Firstly it takes place in April. You sign up and set your own goal (not necessarily 50k like the standard NaNo), it’s suggested anywhere from 10k to 100k. Since I have a busy month ahead of me, I settled for 10k in order to finish up one of my original novels The Weeping Year. I have set up my own cabin, even though this is the first year I’ve participated, and am very willing to invite others to join it. Want to write with us? Join up for Camp NaNo here! If you would like to receive an invite to my cabin for support and some fun social interaction, comment below with your username and you will receive that invite!

In other words, I’m sure to be very busy this month, but I might have time here and there to write reviews, let you in on how Camp NaNo is going and more! Have a wonderful April and if I don’t see you during it, I’ll certainly be seeing you on the other end of it!

My blog took an unscheduled sort of hiatus during November and the first part of December. Why?

Because I focused on NaNoWriMo and was able to win because of my focus! So thank you for giving me time to finish that project before I came back with more posts. I plan to continue my blog with Mondays in Review, Trying to Write on Wednesdays and Friday is Game Time.

In addition to finishing NaNoWriMo successfully, I have also started up an Etsy shop here, where I am selling facial/body scrubs and knitted fashions. At the moment I have two listings, but I plan to raise that number in the coming weeks. I hope you’ll take a look and keep my shop in mind for future gifts!

When NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) begins on November 1st, are you ready to sit down and begin your novel? Is this your first time participating? Is it your fifth? Do you not have any clue as to what you’re actually planning to write? That’s okay, I have a checklist to make certain you’re caught up in the preparation process.

Plotting a pacing out your novel will help you to keep on target. Getting through the introductory portion of the novel, I feel, is the hardest. But the middle can be quite the slog, especially if you have no idea when your novel is going to pick back up. What helps me to get through that? Having the book planned out chapter by chapter. This also makes certain that the lulls between action doesn’t last too long, making the audience bored.

Having character profiles and, in some cases, sketches sorted out ahead of time can greatly benefit you as an author. If you already have these ready to go then you won’t get stuck during writing (at least for not very long!), because all you’ll need to get going again is to look over your character profile to make sure you got his eye color or her height correct when you referenced it just barely. This helps you to understand and visualize your character easier, thus not stopping to figure out whether he’s got brown hair or blond, or whether or not she has freckles.

Untitled novels can still be completed, but it’s a lot harder to tell someone about your novel if you don’t have a title for it. During November there will be countless friends and family members asking what you’re up to. Another plus, other than ease of communication, is that potential audiences will remain interested if you have a title. If you tell them about it, they ask what it’s called and you stutter and stumble over saying it doesn’t have a name yet, they think it’s further from completion than it actually might be. You can monopolize on their interest with a title, making them think it’s closer to being on book shelves than it actually is. It’s handy and it makes talking about your story that much easier.

Summarizing your novel into one cute little synopsis (like NaNo suggests) is actually a really great idea! If you can figure out what your novel is about ahead of time it will keep you writing until the very end—more people will ask questions about your novel and want to know about it. If it’s a well written synopsis then it will draw people in to say it sounds interesting and they want to read it (when can they read it?). It always helps to spur you on knowing that people want to read it even as you’re writing it.

A book cover isn’t a necessary element, but as statistics have shown in the past NaNo’s, books with covers become winners 60% more often. If you’re interested in both completing your novel during NaNo as well as having a pretty cool cover to show everyone (it’s almost like your book’s already out!) I suggest investing the time (and in some cases) the money in it. There are a couple of ways to go about it: creating one yourself which may mean getting permission from models, photographers or artists to use their work in such a way, or it may mean going out and taking your own pictures, drawing your own piece, etc. This way takes a lot more time and energy on your part in which you might lose interest or not have it done before NaNo begins. Another way is to pay someone else to create a book cover through graphic design, photography or their chosen art medium. You have plenty of people and prices to choose from this way and it’s a better means for people who aren’t artistically inclined in such a way or don’t have the time to invest in it.

Hopefully this checklist has helped you to figure out where you’re at with NaNoWriMo. If you have questions or just want me to cover one of the topics more in depth, feel free to comment below. I love hearing back from my readers! Good luck with the 2014 NaNoWriMo!

I know, I know–you’re trying to write and you want some info. Well this week it’s all about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which happens to start at 12:00 am, midnight, on November 1st. What’s all this now?

NaNoWriMo is a website that, for the month of November, you may track your progress towards a 50,000 word goal on your next noveling project! Sounds fun, right? This means the target for daily writing is 1,667 words. Does it sound like you might need help? Good thing there’s forums so you can talk with other NaNo writers as well as “writing buddies” so you can be each others’ accountibili-buddies!

There are some rules, however, like having to verify your word count in order to get the goodies between November 25th and November 30th. You can write over 50,000 and win, but under does not qualify. You should be writing on a singular project, although NaNo Rebels do exist that work on several projects and combine their word counts to reach the 50,000 word requirement. Anything written before midnight on November 1st should not be counted toward your overall word count. There are many more that have cropped up in response to questions by participants, but these are the most basic of rules.

Sign up is free over on the NaNo website, so feel free to join today and get your writing on come November 1st! I’ve been a member for 4 years now, working on my fifth NaNo. Want to be writing buddies? The link to my personal profile will be down below!